Forget Trumpence. Trumpenance. Or Trumpenitence. What we have is TrumPutin, according to Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and chairman of the Human Rights Foundation based in New York. Kasparov is also author of “Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped.” Donald Trump reminds Kasparov of Vladimir Putin and “that is terrifying” he says in this op-ed that appears in today’s Washington Post:
"Donald Trump’s dark and frightening speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday had pundits and historians making comparisons ranging from George Wallace in the 1960s to Benito Mussolini in the 1930s. As suitable as those comparisons may be, the chill that ran down my spine was not because of Trump’s echoes of old newsreel footage. Instead, I saw an Americanized version of the brutally effective propaganda of fear and hatred that Vladimir Putin blankets Russia with today.
This isn’t to say Trump plagiarized Putin verbatim. The language and tone were comparable the way that the Russian and American flags make different designs with the same red, white and blue. Nor was it merely the character of the text; Trump’s mannerisms and body language — toned down from his usual histrionics — were startlingly similar to the sneering and boastful delivery Russians know all too well after Putin’s 16 years in power …
The demagogic candidate must paint a bleak picture of the status quo, citing every catastrophe and failure before presenting the even darker future ahead if he isn’t granted the power to act, and act now. You might believe a campaigning politician would prefer to evoke positive emotions in prospective voters, but this does not fit the profile of the strongman. Instead of telling people what he will do if they elect him, he threatens them with what will happen if they don’t. The democratic leader needs the people. The tyrant, and the would-be tyrant, insists that the people need him."Look for Kasparov’s entire commentary here.
The WaPo Editorial Staff the other day called him "unfit for office" in what seems to me to be the most resounding condemnation of a presidential candidate by the mainstream media in my lifetime. Heard from a friend yesterday that he doesn't care because Hillary would take his guns. He knows because he googled Hillary and guns.
ReplyDeleteThat and "he financed his own campaign" are the two most frequent excuses I'm hearing so far, but "Hillary lies" and "Benghazi" are right up there on the wall of shame. There is so little intelligence behind these defensive reflexes and denials. It's just a convulsion of fear and panic and little more and I don't see hope for explaining to people, for convincing people, for waking them up and relaxing the death grip on the guns and bibles.
"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." and who is there, who will there be to rescue us? Who ya gonna call? I can joke about Trumpbusters, but it's not funny and although I hope we're not beyond redemption, I've begun to mourn my country. Yisgadal veyishkadash shmay rabbo. . .
I'm just looking for one Trump supporter to step forward and admit to their own bigotry and hatred. Just one. Because at the heart of his popularity is his bigotry. It can't be his "family values", since he has none. It can't be his religious beliefs, since he has none. It can't be his foreign policy, or economic policy, or his plan to create jobs, since he has no plans or policies. The only thing Trump has made perfectly clear throughout this campaign is his bigotry. So that's what has half of America enthralled, at the most basic bottom line. Trump won the GOP nomination because the base of that Party is racist. Now I just want one Republican to step up and own it. Admit it. Say it aloud, write it down, sign a name to it. "I support Donald J. Trump because I'm a bigot and want one in the White House."
ReplyDeleteI do not knock all Trump supporters, only the bigots and white supremacists among them. There are legitimate reasons for public anger, and the phenomenon is worldwide. Witness the Brexit vote, the rise of nationalism and xenophobia, and the decline of middle classes everywhere in the Western world.
ReplyDeleteI approach these issues from another another perspective: Motivated reasoning and cognitive bias.
These are areas of study that seek to understand and explain emotionally-based decision-making even in the face of overwhelmingly contrary evidence. Rather than seek information to make a rational decision … either pro or con … people tend to filter information that validates them.
I will not engage a Trump supporter in direct conversation because of what I know about motivational reasoning. An exercise in futility, I find it usually leads to confrontations and back-and-forth finger pointing. However, it does inform my analytical thinking, my writing, and my opinion columns in the newspapers.
And your are right. I know otherwise decent and normal seeming people who back Trump, but the reasons given are usually so silly as to seem excuses -- which they are.
ReplyDeleteBut the accusation of bias and motivated logic an all that can be and is misused. The Liberal Press gambit is so effective and needs no corroborating facts -- and the accused is put in the position of proving one is not biased and the accuser always has the advantage.
And there's that Platonic adage about not getting into contests with madmen. Good advice.
Unless we're lucky enough that Trump really puts his foot into it or gets put in jail for rape or fraud or bribery or any of his other crimes, we're not going to get too many converts and even then. What ever it is that makes him seem like a solution is certainly strong. He's right about getting away with murder.
But writing in the papers in this place! huevos grandes señor! A couple of aggressive pet pit bulls? An alligator chained in the yard? Electric fence?